June 23, 2014 (63rd Day)

Erwin got out of bed at 7:30 while Edith wanted to sleep in a bit longer. Because the campground was primitive there was no shower facility, so we sponge-bathed.

Erwin decided to fix French toast for breakfast. It has been a long time since we have had them for breakfast.  The downside: not enough slices left to make sandwiches for lunch...

Went in Canmore townsite to get the windshield/windows washed and cleaned. 

Looked for campground to dump, but one campground did not have it. Went to Visitor's center off Bow Valley Trail and they have a dump station. Went in visitor's center to get information on Banff and Lake Louise.  They had wifi, so Edith used it for a while to check emails and to pay bills. 

Hit the road at 11:15 am, went through Banff Park gate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AB5kCwWKR8&list=UUc1sN0j1aIwLmqT67a9kMUQ

Went to Banff Springs Hotel, what a hotel!  Beautiful and it has floor tiles that has fossils in them that were quarried in Manitoba near the North Dakota border.  Back then many establishments wanted them, and at that time it was okay, but not today because the archaeologists want to preserve and study fossils.

Walked down the steep road to see the famous Waldhaus restaurant (German foods) 

Watched three elderly ladies at Hole 15 tee hitting the golf ball across a river. All of them hit fairly well...

We hiked down further to see Bow Falls

Walked back to the restaurant, saw a male elk grazing. It looked startled when tourists started to get too close, it ran away and down to and across the golf course.

Browsed the shops in the hotel.  Fancy and way too expensive.  

Went to Banff Gondola/Sulphur Mountains - 5 minutes away from Banff townsite. We decided to buy a package for 3 attractions: Gondola, Glacier Adventure and Skywalk. 

Interesting gondola ride - awesome and breathtaking view of the town, hotels and mountains going up to the top of Sulphur Mountain.  Awesome bird's eye view of the mountain ranges! If anyone of you ever think about visiting Canadian Rockies be sure to swing by Banff and take the gondola ride. You won't regret it! 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-8jYBZBmww&list=UUc1sN0j1aIwLmqT67a9kMUQ

It was not that cold up there.  Walked up the observation deck, then walked on the boardwalk trail and steps to Sulphur Mountain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-UmsmUnpwI&list=UUc1sN0j1aIwLmqT67a9kMUQ&index=1

It took little more than an hour both ways.  We were really tired and out of breath because of altitude.  Bought few souvenirs. 

Waiting for our turn to get on the gondola

Up, up and away

PROOF:  WE WERE HERE!

Observation station

So beautiful, isn't it?

Went to visit Cascade Gardens, pretty flowers. Started to drizzle.  Erwin started to feel tired and said he was done with walking for the day.

Magnificent Trellis made with Burly woods!

Absorbing the majestic beauty.

Stopped at visitor's center in Banff to get information on campgrounds. 

Banff downtown

They informed us that dry camping in Banff is prohibited.  They suggested two campsites: Village 1 (no hookups) and Village 2 (hookups), so we chose Village 1, got site J10 ($27.40 CD).   On way to the site we saw two female elks, and one of them had a collar.

Simple and quick supper was served: hot dogs, boiled potatoes and corn.  While cooking it started to rain and it lasted for about 15 minutes. After supper we played cribbage - our first game playing since beginning of the trip in April.  Edith won the game.

Erwin suggested we go out for a hike, but Edith mentioned that he said earlier today that he was done hiking.  Just a short hike, he said, so off we went for one mile in the forest.  After hiking we washed dishes at the bathhouse since it had dish sink with hot water.

We looked over the map trying to decide what our plan for tomorrow will be. We agreed that we need to be up early, fix quick breakfast, then go to Banff downtown to park in RV parking lot. Parking spaces for RV in Banff is scarce.